Increasing popularity diminished before long that timidity which had in
great measure prevented trial of the new method from being made on the
weaker and more serious class of cases, and had caused hydropathists to
occupy themselves mainly with a sturdy order of chronic invalids well
able to bear a rigorous regimen and the severities of unrestricted
crisis. The need of a radical adaptation to the former class was first
adequately recognized by John Smedley, a manufacturer of Derbyshire,
who, impressed in his own person with the severities as well as the
benefits of "the cold water cure," practised among his workpeople a
milder form of hydropathy, and began about 1852 a new era in its
history, founding at Matlock a counterpart of the establishment at
Gräfenberg.
Ernst Brand (1826-1897) of Berlin, Räljen and Theodor von Jürgensen of
Kiel, and Karl Liebermeister (1833-1901) of Basel, between 1860 and
1870, employed the cooling bath in abdominal typhus with striking
results, and led to its introduction to England by Dr Wilson Fox. In the
Franco-German war the cooling bath was largely employed, in conjunction
frequently with quinine; and it now holds a recognized position in the
treatment of hyperpyrexia. The wet sheet pack has become part of medical
practice; the Turkish bath, introduced by David Urquhart (1805-1877)
into England on his return from the East, and ardently adopted by Dr
Richard Barter (1802-1870) of Cork, has become a public institution,
and, with the "morning tub" and the general practice of water drinking,
is the most noteworthy of the many contributions by hydropathy to public
health (see BATHS, ad fin.).
The appliances and arrangements by means of which heat and cold are
brought to bear on the economy are--(a) Packings, hot and cold,
general and local, sweating and cooling; (b) hot air and steam baths;
(c) general baths, of hot water and cold; (d) sitz, spinal, head and
foot baths; (e) bandages (or compresses), wet and dry; also (f)
fomentations and poultices, hot and cold, sinapisms, stupes, rubbings
and water potations, hot and cold.
(a) Packings.--The full pack consists of a wet sheet enveloping the
body, with a number of dry blankets packed tightly over it, including
a macintosh covering or not. In an hour or less these are removed and
a general bath administered. The pack is a derivative, sedative,
sudorific and stimulator of cutaneous excretion. There are numerous
modifications of it, notably the cooling pack, where the wrappings are
loose and scanty, permitting evaporation, and the application of
indefinite duration, the sheet being rewetted as it dries; this is of
great value in protracted febrile conditions. There are also local
packs, to trunk, limbs or head separately, which are derivative,
soothing or stimulating, according to circumstance and detail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account